Part of me knows that movies cost money and the director is trying to avoid having to take everything down and set up somewhere else. But--still--yuck!
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| In some ways, Sleeping Beauty was such |
| a terrifying film because Disney was going |
| back to older sources. |
However, to be fair, dead bodies and body parts litter older fairy tales, including the romantic scenes. Cinderella's sisters cut off parts of their feet, then get sent down a hillside in barrels of spikes. The king of the Twelve Dancing Princesses uses a carrot and BIG stick to attract suitors: figure out the problem and marry one of my daughters or DIE. Several heroines, including the heroine of the Seven Swans, are nearly burned at the stake.
Villains perish. Suitors die. Parents get buried and come to life through trees and birds, which gives a radical twist to Disney's animated creatures.
I wasn't a fan of Grimm fairy tales as a child--nor much now. However, I do respect Sondheim for pointing out the obvious in Into the Woods. Jack killed the giant. The giant's wife got pissed. Tragedy ensued. And maybe it was Jack's fault. And maybe it wasn't. The baker et al. still fight back.
Consequences are the cost of being alive.
However, visually, the number of dead bodies can become a tad unnerving--and even unbelievable--after awhile. Best they stay in the verbal and written versions. Otherwise, the tale runs the risk of becoming one of those British mysteries where so many people in the village perish, no one is left to care.
From a romance perspective, it is easier to enjoy the couple who ignore other people's failings as opposed to the couple who marry after a visit from the hangman upon their villainous relatives.
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| CinderEdna |
